Don Mills Montage

Location: Lawrence Avenue, west of Don Mills

Date photo taken: 14 July 2019

Charles P. Staffer, a Hungarian born architect and artist, immigrated to Canada in 1957. He worked for the T. Eaton Company, designing and creating murals and other artworks. For the new store opening at the expanding Don Mills Centre, he created two murals, one for inside, and one for the exterior. Both drew on the surrounding neighbourhood for inspiration and both have survived the ongoing evolution of the mall, first to a fully enclosed shopping centre and then to the open-air retail and entertainment complex that exists today. When Cadillac Fairview demolished the old mall in 2006 both murals were removed, restored and then reinstalled. This one can now be found on the north side, facing Lawrence.

Supernova

Location: Shops at Don Mills

Date photo taken: 14 July 2019

This clock tower, situated in the Town Square at the Shops at Don Mills, pays homage to the distinctive style of housing and the explosive pace of suburban development that characterized Toronto in the 1950s and 60s. What I love most about this Douglas Coupland piece isn't the piece itself, but one reaction to it that I found online. To sum up, "Wrong, wrong, wrong." On her Don Mills blog, Jane points out that while the house forms incorporated in the sculpture are similar in style to the homes built in Don Mills, "they Ain't. Don. Mills. Houses." Don Mills is unique in that it was Canada's first planned community and part of what makes it special is that the house plans were designed by select architects to suit the area. Those in Coupland's sculpture were based on blueprints generated by the government and supplied through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. I love both the attention to detail that Coupland showed in the creation of the work, and the knowledge and passion exhibited by Jane in pointing out the historical inaccuracy.